Fate of a Friend
by FaithinBones
Summary: Daisy finds evidence that Zach Addy is not a murderer and gives that evidence to Brennan. Takes place after season 11.


I had a conversation with Jazzyproz the other day and this story came from that conversation. This story takes place after season 11.

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Barely able to contain her excitement, Daisy breezed into the Lab and made a bee line towards Brennan's office. Disappointed that the office was unoccupied when she barged in, she quickly turned around and flew out into the hallway. Scanning the platform, she found that to be empty and her agitation rising. With a snap of her fingers, Daisy scurried around the platform and practically ran down to Bones storage.

After she arrived in what Agent Booth liked to call Limbo, Daisy had to pause and place her hand over her chest. Her excitement and overexertion had left her momentarily breathless. Once she had her breathe back and she felt she was calmer, she hurried down the steps and searched the area for her mentor.

At last finding Brennan, Daisy waved her hand vigorously. "Oh Dr. Brennan, I've been looking for you everywhere and I mean everywhere." Finally standing next to her hero, Daisy exhaled deeply, waved her hand quickly in front of her face and smiled. "You are not going to believe what I found Dr. Brennan. You are just not going to believe it."

Her work interrupted, Brennan tried to be patient. "If you will tell me your news then we will see it that statement is true or not."

Quickly nodding her head, Daisy blurted out her news. "Well as you know or maybe you don't know since I didn't tell you, although I assumed you would know and . . ."

"Ms. Wick, your news please." Brennan was desperately trying to be patient and failing fast. "I have work to do."

Embarrassed, her cheeks pinked quickly. "Yes of course . . . When Lance died, I actually inherited all of his possessions. I didn't expect that, but I should have since he didn't really have any family besides you and Agent Booth and me, but . . ."

Her patience now frayed rather badly, Brennan glared at Daisy. "Is there a point to this conversation?"

Daisy realized that her news had excited her a little too much and she was acting too flighty. "Yes, of course. I was reading Lance's journal last night, well it's sort of a diary, but for his work and any way I found an entry about Dr. Addy and this is the news you need to hear . . . Dr. Addy didn't kill anyone. He's not a murderer."

Stunned, Brennan felt her focus fade a little and then came back to zero in on her intern. "What do you mean Zach didn't kill anyone? You need to explain your statement."

Pleased that Brennan now understood her excitement, Daisy held her clasped hands under her chin. "Lance visited Dr. Addy several times and he made notes in his journal after each visit. In one of his entries, he mentioned that Zach told him that he didn't murder anyone . . . He's not a murderer."

Brennan tried to grasp the significance of her statement. "May I see the journal?" Leaning against the stainless steel table, Brennan waited for her intern to respond.

Carefully removing her bag from her shoulder, Daisy rummaged around and found the journal. With a satisfied smile on her face, Daisy handed the journal over to her supervisor. "It's on page 47.

As she took the book from her intern, Brennan tried to keep her emotions under check. Flipping through the journal, she found page 47 and read it. After she had read it three times, she finally looked up. "May I borrow this journal for a while? I wish to show it to Booth."

Solemnly, Daisy nodded her head. "That's why I brought it. Maybe he can get Dr. Addy out of the institution and bring him back to us where he belongs."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

Unable to wait until lunch when she had planned to eat with Booth at the Diner, Brennan walked over to the Hoover to confront him with her news. After she arrived on the fourth floor, she found her husband as he left the break room with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cruller in the other.

Before he could take a bite of his pastry, Brennan called out to him. "Booth, I have some important information that you need to hear."

Surprised to see his wife at the Hoover, Booth smiled. "Hey Bones. What information? We aren't working on a case right now."

As she followed Booth towards his office, Brennan tried to keep her excitement reined in. "I have something that you need to see." Once they were in his office, Brennan closed the door behind her and followed her husband over to his desk. Once he was sitting down, his coffee and pastry on the desk, she removed Sweets' journal from her bag, turned to page 47 and handed it to Booth.

Curious, Booth took the journal and read the page Brennan pointed at. Once he was done, he read it one more time. Taking in the information, he closed the journal and placed it down on the edge of his desk. "What do you want me to with that?"

A little shocked at his lack of emotion or seeming understanding, Brennan picked up the journal and hugged it against her breasts. "Zach didn't murder anyone Booth. We can get him released from where he is now."

What he had to say was going to disappoint her and it was probably going to lead to an argument, but Booth wanted to protect her and in a way, her former intern. "Bones what do you think would happen if we used this journal to spring him from where he is?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Brennan tried to understand Booth's reaction to her proof that Zach was innocent. "He could come back to work at the Jeffersonian."

"Bones." The Agent rubbed his upper lip and tried to be patient. "Bones you know better . . . you have to know better. If we used that journal to prove that Zach was sane and he always has been, he'd be immediately taken into custody and tried for accessory to murder." Booth held up his hand to forestall her interruption. "There is no statute of limitations on murder . . . okay he didn't murder someone, but this is what the prosecutor will see . . . Zach feigned insanity to evade a trial. If he didn't murder anyone while he was insane there's still a major problem with what he did do. He aided and abetted a serial killer . . . a cannibalistic serial killer."

Booth saw her suddenly turn pale and he knew that she understood. "He was in league with Gormogon . . . a serial killer. Gormogon set off a road side bomb and tried to kill us. Zach told him that the skeleton wasn't really being moved, so that makes him an accessory to that bombing. Gormogon almost killed us, Bones. Zach also gave him information that led to the death of Ray Porter. God knows what other information he gave him. Zach is an accessory to everyone that Gormogon killed from the time he became an apprentice and until he was caught. The attempted murder of a Federal Agent, the murder of a lobbyist. And the little boy Gormogon almost drowned in the pool when he ran from me and oh . . . that guy Gormogon was snacking on when I shot him. The prosecutor could reopen those cases and try Zach for all of them . . . Zach is an accessory to all those charges and combined together . . . he could get the death penalty . . . now do you get it?"

Hugely disappointed, Brennan nodded her head. "Yes, I didn't think this through. I just thought about the fact that Zach didn't kill anyone . . . he isn't a murderer, Booth."

Standing back up, Booth moved closer to Brennan, removed the journal from her clutches and pulled her into his embrace. "I know you're disappointed and the kid probably doesn't deserve to be locked up, but Bones . . . he was Gormogon's apprentice and he'd be held accountable for that." In his mind, deep down where Brennan would never see, Booth never really forgave Zach for endangering his partner. That bomb flipped the taxi they were in and that could have easily killed both of them and that was a hard thing to forgive. "I know you love Zach, but if you don't want to see him executed he has to stay where he is."

Unable to prevent it, Brennan wept. "Yes . . . yes, I understand . . . I . . ."

Booth let her weep in his arms until she could get emotions under control. Once she was calmer, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her. "I know you got your hopes up, but he's safer where he is."

Blowing her nose, Brennan rubbed her nose with the cloth and then placed it in her jacket pocket. "You're right of course." A sudden thought hit her. "Oh . . . Booth, Daisy gave me that information."

Alarmed, Booth grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. "Shit . . . we have to get to the Jeffersonian and shut her up or Zach is going to be in big trouble."

Oooooooooooooooooooo

They found Daisy in the break room. Surprised to see Booth at the Lab when there was no case, Daisy waved her hand at him. "Hey."

Quickly moving across the space, Booth and Brennan sat down next to her at the table so they didn't stand over her. "Daisy, have you told anyone about the journal besides Bones?"

Not sure why Booth was glaring at her, Daisy hunched her shoulders. "Well yes, of course. It's good news. I told Angela and Dr. Hodgins and Dr. Saroyan and Arastoo and um . . . what?"

His temper rising rapidly, Booth leaned forward. "Daisy that journal entry from Sweets is not good news. You didn't think it through did you? Of course not . . . If Zach isn't insane then he will be considered sane enough to go on trial for murder and attempted murder. He was Gormogon's assistant and that makes him culpable. They'd fry him. Don't you get that? You can't tell anyone about the journal because you could end up killing Zach."

The blood rushing from her face, Daisy stared wide-eyed at the Agent. "Oh my God. I didn't realize . . . of course you're right. Why did I tell anyone? Oh this is bad . . . Dr. B if I had known that . . . if I had thought about it I would have burned the journal or torn the page out because I don't really want to burn Lance's . . ."

"Daisy!" Booth didn't want to hear anymore. "Daisy, you have to fix this."

Brennan agreed, "You will have to tell everyone that you were wrong about what you read. If you don't want Zach to stand trial you must fix this."

"But he really was Gormogon's apprentice, Dr. B." Daisy wanted to help her idol, but really wasn't the law there for a reason? "I mean I thought Dr. Addy would be released which would be great for you and for the Jeffersonian, but . . . he did work as the apprentice of a serial killer and shouldn't he be held accountable? I'm just asking because I want to do the right thing."

Slowly blowing the air between his lips, Booth nodded his head then ran his hand over his mouth while he looked at Brennan who was wrestling with what Daisy had just said. Determined to fix it for his wife, Booth turned back to face Daisy. "Look . . . yes he was an accomplice to a murderer, but Zach didn't murder anyone . . . um, Zach is different from most people. He lives in his head and logic is very important to him. He thought he was doing the right thing at the time. He . . . "

"Daisy, the world is not black and white." Brennan stared intently at her intern. "You know that. Booth was in prison for several months for murdering three men. You and I know that he killed those men to defend himself and that he was framed, but the FBI believed something else at the time . . . Zach was influenced by a charismatic genius . . . Zach is drawn to intelligence. He has a hard time seeing the entire picture of something if facts are presented to him in a certain logical manner . . . I'm not saying that what he did was comparable to what Booth did because it isn't. What I am trying to say is that there are many shades of truth behind every story and we aren't always privy to all of it."

Booth hadn't liked being compared to Zach in anyway, but he let it go. "Look Daisy . . . think of Zach as a very intelligent child. He lives inside his head, never had many friends and when he came back from a tour in Iraq he isolated himself further. He didn't have anything in common with regular people and he just got worse . . . He met Gormogon and that guy did a number on his head. Zach never killed anyone, but he helped do some things that he regretted later when he had time to think about it. Why let him die for making a huge mistake? His death would upset a lot of people and what would it prove? He was just a follower and well, Zach was just pulled into some shit that he didn't really understand . . . the murderer is dead. Gormogon is dead and Zach, he can never hurt anyone where he is. Let's just leave him where he is . . . okay?"

Slowly nodding her head, Daisy stood up. "May I have the journal?"

Brennan removed the book from her bag and handed it over. Once Daisy had it in her hand, she tore out page 47 and handed it to Booth. "Here Agent Booth. You do with it what you want. I'll go tell everyone that I was wrong and I misread Lance's journal. They know his handwriting was terrible and I can say that I just misread it."

Grateful, Brennan smiled at her intern. "Thank you Daisy. I appreciate your cooperation."

Daisy gave her mentor a sad smile. "You and Agent Booth have done so much for me and little Seeley. I want to do this for you." Tucking the journal under her arm, Daisy left the break room.

After Daisy had left, Booth placed his arm around his wife's shoulders, "I'm sorry Bones."

Her day both filled with happiness and sadness, Brennan turned and kissed Booth on the cheek. "The world may not be black and white, but never doubt that I know what a good man you are, Booth. You were unjustly treated by everyone and yet you have recovered and have moved on. I know that what Zach did was wrong and he is where he needs to be like you are where you need to be. I love you."

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Let me know what you think of my story. Thank you.


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